Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 17
Workday Jumps 18% on Silver Lake Take-Private Talks, Adding $8 Billion in Value
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 17

Workday Jumps 18% on Silver Lake Take-Private Talks, Adding $8 Billion in Value

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 17

Summary

  • Nearly 18% surge in Workday shares on Thursday lifted the software maker’s market value from about $43 billion to nearly $51 billion after Reuters reported months of take-private talks with Silver Lake.
  • No price, terms or assurance of a deal have been reported, and neither Workday nor Silver Lake immediately commented, leaving investors to weigh the company on a stand-alone basis.
  • Workday’s underlying business is growing more slowly but becoming more profitable: trailing-12-month revenue rose 13.3% to $9.85 billion, while net income climbed about 74% to $847 million.
  • About $2.97 billion in free cash flow and a 30% margin may support private-equity interest, even as AI fears around headcount-based pricing have kept the stock roughly 17% below its 52-week high.

Insights

Will a debt-heavy private buyout unleash Workday's AI potential, or cripple the innovation it needs to survive?
Does Silver Lake's massive takeover bid signal the end of the hyper-growth era for enterprise cloud software?